An Australian woman who made headlines around the globe after she was fined $500 for stealing a $6.75 pack of tampons will donate to charity a quarter of the money raised in her name to ensure it doesn't happen to other women.

Toddlers in Australian childcare centres would inevitably come under the radar of spy organisations and counter-terrorism police, a gathering of hundreds of Muslim men, women and children has been told.

Less than 24 hours after Australians across the country kicked off their shoes to enter the nation's mosques for a National Day of Unity, Muslims in Sydney were calling for a different kind of solidarity – against a demonising state and its agents.

In the wake of the shooting death of police accountant Curtis Cheng in Parramatta by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar four weeks ago and the global pall cast by the actions of IS in Iraq and Syria, many Muslims feel misunderstood, if not feared. This Saturday, they open the doors of their mosques to public to foster a better understanding of Islam.